The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-02-19

ARdll.SI edCu OtucI uuduly uuSh
The hostile lines, and when the eve
Brought to the soldiers short reprieve
From bloody toll, though doubts might be,
Ofwhich had won the victory,
Yet did the South loss sustain,
They i'll could bear, for on that plain,
The chief who led them to the fray,
The gallant johnson, wounded lay;
Then Lee commanded, and allied
With Stonewall Jackson, long defied
The bravest efforts that the North,
To quell rebellion, could put forth.
Until South Mountain turned the tide,
And checked his march of conquest wide;
And next Antietam's great defeat,
Forced his vast army to retreat.
Then fredericksburg fierce fight came on,
Again the victory was won
By Lees battalions strong and bold,
And then at Charlottesville was rolled
The dark and murky cloud Of war,
And there did Lee repulse once more
The bravest that the North could send
Their threatened country to defend;
Then northward Lee his armies drew,
ON Maryland his forces threw,
And on to Pennsylva..!a passed,
To Gettysburg, and there he maSsed
His forces on the mountain side,
To strike the blow that should decide
For veal or woe, the struggle dread,
That DER the country long had spread
Dark ruin and destruction dire,
And scattered death by sword and fire;
Then here three days he bravely threw
His columns gainst the lines OF blue,
But VAIN and ruined, he withdrew,
And to Virginia turned again,
And rested there his wearied men;
But now disaster followed fast
The Southern arms all hope was past,
Yet bravely fought they to the last,
Where Appamottox viewed the end
OF that fierce storm that rose to rend
The Union in its onward course,
But ended there its broken force.
In every battle that was fought,
Had Robert Lorn his legion brought
Against the serried Union rank,
And though full half and more had sank,
They never from the foe had fed,
And Robert Lorn still boldly led
The shattered remnants of his band,
When Lee last and desperate stand
At fatal Appomattox made,
To meet the shock, not long delayed,
When Grants battalions onward came
With force resistless, to reclaim
The states rebellious, and replace
The South within its former grace.
Then fiercely there the battle ragged;
In the last struggle were engaged
The bravest men that e'er did WELD
The arms ofwar upon the field;
His weakened troops all through the day,
Lorn hurled against the North's array,
And for while he held at bay
The conquering foe, but ere that day
Had sunk to sleep, he also lay,
With thousands, on the bloody ground,
Within his breast a gaping wound;
The South had falln, once more did wave
The stars and stripes above the brave;
The land united, once again
Did Peace begin her welcome reign.
Night fell upon the bloody plain,
Strewn with the corpses of the slain
Long Lorn had lain upon the ground,
And helpless, heard the fearful sound,
The battles awful din and clash,
As on the squadrons madly dash,
Attack, and reel, and turns and fly,
And charge again, and charging, die,
Till consciousness, o'erpowered, fed,
And silently he lay as one dead,
Until the night had over all,
Falrn like dark enshroHding pail
Then he awakes; what sees he noWg.
What form is that, doth over him bow?
Who doth support his swimming head?
Hath reason, overpowered, fled p?
Or can it, can it really be,
That he beholds his Helen Lee?
He gazes in those eager eyes,
niSSiantly doth recognize
.snforgotten face,